


With a Taste of Your Lips

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Series: Femslash Feb 2018 [7]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2018, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Graduation, we're back to regular humans bc why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 23:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13600479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Not that Piper paid attention to the climate of Annabeth Chase's lips.Femslash Feb Day 7: "Cotton Candy"





	With a Taste of Your Lips

**Author's Note:**

> and finishing out the first week of my first femslash feb is yet another First time writing
> 
> yall KNOW tht title's from britney's toxic

Piper stepped heavily up the stone staircase, one hand on the bitterly cold railing and the other scrubbing at her still tired eyes. 

Her old hiking boots were weighty on her feet as she mechanically pulled them up one after the other. Years and years of mandated early rising and she still wasn't a morning person - and now that they were just a few months away from it being over, even if it was just for a little while, she had decidely gotten worse.

Pushing the tall door open with one shoulder, she stepped inside to fluorescent lights and grimy tile and a long crowd of kids in the exact same boat as her. 

On her way to her locker, whe spared a high five for Percy - who had his head pressed against his locker and was moaning under his breath about something or other - and a finger for her sister Drew, who was on the other side of the hall, already doing the same with a wide grin.

The warning bell shrieked, beginning to effectively clear out the hallways - even Percy found it in himself to pull away from his locker and trudge to first period.

Piper shuffled through her locker, no pep in her step. She had five minutes until a class that was all of a few feet from where she currently stood, and thus was in no rush.

The door on the other end of the hall busted open and frantic footsteps sounded as Piper was shoving her Civics textbook in her bag. She glanced up for only a second before returning to her own problems.

It was when a locker squeak she knew all too well soundesd that she finally looked up for good.

"Annabeth?" Piper tried as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

There was a quick scuffle of books and other items dinging against the cool green metal of the locker before the door swung shut and Annabeth made tired eye contact with her.

"Hey, Pipes," Annabeth grinned, sparing only a seconds-long glance at the tube of atrociously blue chaptstick in her hand to uncap it before looking back up. "I gotta go, but I'll see you at lunch?" 

Before Piper could respond, the blonde was off, wave of thick curls beating against her backpack beating against her back as she darted down the hall - scuffed white sneakers smacking the floor loudly.

"Yeah," Piper drawled to no one, turning on her heel and jogging to class. She slid into her seat right as the bell rang.

\-----

Piper dropped her lunchbox onto the metal grate of a tabletop, dropping down onto the curving bench a second after. 

Annabeth's head snapped up from where she was stabbing at a grape that rolled around her tray. 

"Hey," she greeted.

Piper let loose a small laugh. "What'd that grape ever do to you?" she asked, foregoing a greeting, as was the way of their friendship.

"Nothing, I forgot to pack my lunch last night during everything, so I had to opt for...this," she grimaced at the handful of shriveled grapes, carton of milk, and slab of whatever they'd deigned to serve as their main course.

Finally, with a wrinkled nose that Piper would not, of course, describe as endearing, she pushed her tray away and tugged her small purse into her hands. 

For its size, Annabeth managed to cram a surprising amount of crap in it - receipts, dried up pens, snack baggies and scribbled reminders in cramped handwriting. Just another thing to go on the absolutely in no way endearing list.

She unearthed the same tube of chapstick that Piper had seen a handful of times that day and began applying it to her not-as-dry-and-cracked-as-usual lips. Not that Piper paid attention to the climate of Annabeth Chase's lips.

"What _is_ that?" Piper asked finally.

"Something I got from Drew."

"Tanaka? My sister? Willingly?" Piper fired back rapidly.

"Uh, yeah," Annabeth said, her dark cheeks flushing with a deeper color.

"May I?"

Annabeth shrugged, handing it over willingly.

Piper turned it over in her hands, inspecting it closely. The label was worn around the scent and ingredients, but she could make out the brand name enough to know she should be worried.

"All right, Chase, spill," Piper said not unkindly, rolling the tube back to her best friend.

Annabeth naturally fidgeted, usually with her fingers or writing utensil, but now she pulled at the piled up fabric of her rolled up t-shirt sleeve, her biggest tell. 

"It's nothing," she replied too quickly, tossing the offending tube back into her purse. 

"That's Drew's 'gearing up for a big kiss' brand," Piper countered. 

"I know," Annabeth muttered.

"Wait - oh my God, it's not Percy is it?"

"No!" Annabeth squawked. "No, I loved him, but we grew up and grew apart and we're over - you know that, right?"

Annabeth and Percy had started dating freshman year, lasting strong until the end of junior year when they'd parted in the most amicable high school breakup known to man. It had shocked everyone, they'd always seemed so perfect - which was when Annabeth had first used that argument. 

They'd began dating when they were just learning themselves, they'd been good together, loved one another, but sometimes that wasn't enough, and that was okay, Annabeth had explained. There were other avenues they both wanted to explore, people and places and memories - and they owed it to themselves and each other to let that happen instead of forcing a romantic relationship that wasn't beneficial to either of them. 

They were still best friends, though. Just because they stopped dating didn't mean they stopped being each other's person too - those were Percy's words. 

"You've never really shown interest in kissing anyone else."

Annabeth's face pulled into a something painful. "It's not easy, Piper," she finally said. "For three years I didn't really have to worry about it, did I?" she asked, eyes crinkling.

Piper nodded. "I get it," she said. 

And she did - she and Jason had had that early romance, growing up together but not _together_ , the only difference was him transferring out middle of last year, effectively killing them off before they had a chance to do it themselves, but it had still been coming nonetheless. 

"Hey, let me know if I can help, all right?" Piper asked, resting her hand on top of Annabeth's.

\-----

Piper hadn't seen much of Annabeth in the past few weeks. Finals had come and gone, and all of the end of the year festivities were coming at them one after the other so as not to leave any wiggle room.

Just about the only people Piper _had_ seen were Drew and by extension of Drew, Calypso and even that was starting to not cut it.

Which was why when she awoke to a familiar perfume in her nose she released an ungodly screech and flung herself around her sister's neck. Not because she missed her sister or anything.

"I thought you couldn't make it," Piper said into the crook of Silena's neck. "You said you couldn't make it, what are you doing here!"

"And miss my little sister's graduation? Clarisse and I blew off work for the day and drove down - we wouldn't miss it for the world, Pipe." Silena's smile was wide and her eyes watery, a mirror of Piper's own.

"But what about tickets-" Piper began suddenly, wrenching forward from under her sheets.

"Already taken care of. I've got myself a woman on the inside," she replied breezily.

"You've been planning this?"

"For a couple months," Silena agreed bashfully. "After I told you about maybe not being able to make it you sounded so heartbroken that we decided to do what we could to make it in - but even after all that, we didn't know if it would work out, so we decided to surprise you."

Piper threw her arms back around her sister's neck. "I'm so glad you're here, I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too. So, wha'd'you say to grabbing breakfast and then you, me, and Drew cramming into the bathroom like when we were kids to get ready - maybe I can finally get the juicy gossip that I've missed?"

"I'd love that."

\-----

Piper stood backstage shaking her hands out, watching the silky black of her robe shimmer around her. Her heart was hammering in her chest, seemingly vying for a position against the uncomfortable polyester fabric.

She looked around at all the kids she'd known for years - Hazel, Frank, Leo, Calypso, Rachel, Percy-

Annabeth.

Annabeth, with her hair spilling out from under her cap. Annabeth, with her keen eyes and her sharp smile and her biting laugh. Annabeth with Piper's heart in her hands.

Before Piper could think better of it, she headed over to the other girl. Taking the walk to drink in the, fine, admittedly cute way her nose wrinkled when she slipped her feet into her heels.

"We did it, huh?" Piper greeted.

"Four years, but we're still standing," Annabeth agreed, looking up at Piper. "Your hair looks really good."

"Silena," Piper replied in lieu of an actual explanation. The name was explanation enough, after all.

"She made it?" Annabeth grinned. "I knew she'd do it."

Piper quirked a brow at that before it dawned on her. "You're her woman on the inside," she laughed, but there was something rising in her throat at the thought of it all.

"There was a whole phone tree to put us into contact with one another, it was pretty impressive until I remembered Drew could've just given her my number."

"You helped make sure she could come-" Piper repeated, that something in her throat rising in a way that felt suspiciously like tears.

"Hey, don't cry- of course I did, why wouldn't I?" Annabeth consoled as she rose to her feet and flung her arms around her neck. "I wanted today to be the best it could be for you, and I know you were really sad about your dad not being able to make it, so when Silena called it…it just seemed perfect."

Piper buried her face in Annabeth's curls and tried her damndest not to burst into ugly tears and not only ruin the moment, but the fine layer of makeup Silena and Drew had helped apply a few hours before.

She'd told Annabeth about the situation with her dad months ago - before winter break even. His contract had changed and he wouldn't be able to get out from under it, so he was stuck filming overseas the whole month of June. She didn't even think the other girl would remember the particular late night conversation out of all the ones they'd had.

"Piper," Annabeth called gently, hand brushing lightly against the back of her neck. "You know how we said that night that once we walk across that stage high school's officially over?"

"Yeah."

Annabeth inhaled deeply. "I made myself a promise that I would do something before it was over and I think this is my last chance."

Piper pulled back to look her in the eye, unsure of what she was doing, but knowing in her gut thay she needed to dive in headfirst. "Then do it, no regrets," she replied.

Annabeth rubbed her lips together, eyes flicking across Piper's face. "Okay," she breathed, leaning forward and pressing their mouths together ever so briefly.

It was only a split second, but it made Piper's heart skip several beats. She blinked once, twice, registered the shock on Annabeth's own face, smiled, and pressed forward again.

This time they met in the middle, hands timidly finding sides and hips. They were stuck in their own little pocket of time - before everything changed, before they had to decide, before they had to commit, they were here and now and _glorious_.

Annabeth exhaled soundly when they parted, tongue tracing her lips faintly. "I-"

"Girls, this is great, I'm very proud, but Annabeth you've gotta _go_ , they're about to call your name," Rachel interjected from a few feet away.

"Later," Annabeth said, though if it was more for her own benefit or her's, Piper couldn't tell.

"Later," Piper agreed.

Time seemed to pick up then, until it was Piper's turn to walk the stage and it slowed back to a crawl.

As she took her place just on the other edge of the curtain, she met the eyes of Mr. Brunner and split into a cheek-breaking grin.

With the sweet taste of cotton candy chapstick that definitely wasn't her own still clouding her senses, Piper McLean, newly graduated, walked the stage, finding her sister's eyes first, and then those of the girl who had been her best friend, but was now so much more.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr @desertrosetico !


End file.
